by Bec McMaster
She launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. A breathless kiss took him by surprise, but he barely had time to taste it before she was drawing back.
“I couldn’t bear to lose you. For everything I’ve suffered—my mother’s death, my honor, Valhalla—you were the one loss I couldn’t survive.”
Tormund curled his arm around her as she buried her face in his chest. He could feel the tremor through her back, and cupped the back of her neck, rubbing her nape. “Easy does it, love. I’m still here.”
And then he closed his eyes and breathed her in.
I love you….
A soft smile tugged at his lips. He’d dared to dream of those words, but there’d been a part of him that had never expected to hear them. “So that’s what it took to make you realize how amazing I am,” he rasped. “A little near-death experience.”
Bryn punched him in the ribs.
But lightly.
“Don’t you dare joke about this,” she growled. “I am trying to bare my heart to you, and all you can do is make mock?”
Tormund caressed her face gently, urging her to lift her head. His thumb traced the curve of her cheek and the soft lushness of her mouth. “It’s what I do when I’m afraid. Or overwhelmed. Or… trying not to shed a damned tear.”
“Are you overwhelmed?” she whispered.
He nodded as he sank back into the bedroll. “I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you, in one way or another. You were all my dreams breathed into life. You were everything I’ve never dared hope for.” He smiled. “And then you gave me a look that would have shriveled another man’s privates and told me that you weren’t my sweet anything. I knew you’d lead me a chase, Bryn. I knew I would have to be patient and let you slowly lower your guard. But there have been times when I wondered if you ever would.”
She curled into his arms again, resting her head on his chest. “The moment I saw you I knew you were a smooth-talking charmer who would try to win your way into my bedroll. Many men have tried, and all have failed. But there was always something about you that made me wary. Your smile, perhaps. Or your eyes. Or watching the way you cared for everyone around you. I knew you would be dangerous, because you had a way of disarming me even then.”
“And now you’re mine.” He stroked his hands up her shirt, feeling the muscles ripple along her spine.
“One could say, now you’re mine. Considering I bound my life to yours.”
“Yes, but I already put a ring on your finger, Bryn. And you accepted it.” He lifted her hand, toying with the ring there.
She stilled. “The king of the ljósálfar’s ring?”
“The very same.” He cupped one hand under his head and winced as a muscle in his chest pulled.
Bryn lifted her head from his chest. “That was offered as payment, should I take you to see King Harald.”
“That was the moment you first let down your guard. You’ve been wearing my ring on your finger ever since.”
“Because it is powerful. And sparkly. And I collect items that belonged to the gods or great warriors.”
“Really?” He turned his face to hers. “It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact I gave it to you?”
Bryn bit her lip, toying with the edge of his collarbone. “Maybe a little.”
He captured her face, tilting his mouth to hers. “I’m going to marry you, you know? And I promise I will never betray you, or vanquish you, or belittle you. They’ll sing your name through the ages, and they’ll put my name next to yours. And together, we will move mountains.”
“Do I have any say in that?” she whispered, her breath stirring over her lips.
“Yes or no, Bryn?”
“Yes,” she moaned, leaning down to kiss him. “A thousand times yes.”
His tongue brushed into her mouth, sweeping in slow, deliberate strokes. Bryn’s hand slid down the ridge of his abdomen, and curled around his cock.
Fuck. He took a deep breath, and then winced as a shaft of pain near tore his chest apart. Of all the moments….
Bryn paused. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Don’t you dare let go of my cock….
But she looked down at him, and he knew the moment was lost.
“You’re not all right,” she said. “Does your chest hurt? Can you cough? I thought you were fully healed! Sirius said he managed to clear most of the scar tissue from your lungs—”
“Easy,” he whispered, capturing her hands and tugging her down into his arms. It made his mouth dry to realize she was acting like a mother hen. “My chest is fine, though I feel a little bruised. And maybe hugging you will be enough for now, though I intend to make up for it when I am better.” His mouth pulled into a smile. “You said you’d marry me.”
She rested her chin on his shoulder, hugging him tightly. “A moment of madness.”
“I don’t think so.” He caught her hand in his and squeezed. “The gods heard your pledge, and I’m going to hold you to it.”
“You would.”
“What happened to the others?” He looked around, noting the roof of the shepherd’s hut they’d shared not… days past? “What happened to Ishtar?”
“She’s safe and well. Marduk returned with her to Hekla.” She paused. “He was worried about something she said. He seems to think one of the ljósálfar is on this plane and has been manipulating her. He wanted to get her safely within the walls of the Zini court, before they could contact other dreki courts and ensure the portal is closed indefinitely.”
Fucking elves. He wanted nothing to do with it. He’d done his penance. He’d survived this mad quest and rescued a prince. He’d nearly fucking died. This mess was none of his business, and he’d have to remind Haakon that they weren’t getting involved. “And us? What do we do now?”
“Sirius has been waiting for you to wake. He said he would fly us back to the court—something about the king owing you a king’s ransom for helping find Marduk.”
“I’ll give you half,” he told her. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Bryn shrugged. “I don’t need your coin, Tormund. I think I’ve won more than enough.” She rubbed her hand across his chest. “I have your heart, and it is worth more than all the magical relics in the world.”
“That’s… almost sweet.”
“I can be sweet.”
“When you want to be, my little hedgehog.”
“Tormund,” she growled.
“What?” He kissed her neck innocently.
“Don’t make me murder you before you even marry me.”
He tapped her nose. “It will grow on you.”
“It will not grow on me.” She bit his finger, and he laughed.
Then winced again.
Bryn’s hard eyes locked on him. “You’re—”
“Fine,” he told her. “Give me a week, and I’ll be wrestling you into bed. Now….” He pushed himself upright. “Let’s go find that overgrown lizard. I want to go home. I want to see Haakon again.”
Bryn pressed her lips to his forehead. “I’ll find him. Then we’ll go home.”
But for the first time in his life, home did not mean the tiny village he’d been birthed into.
Home was with the family he’d made. With Haakon and Árdís. Even… Sirius. And now Bryn.
“You’re coming to Hekla?”
Bryn pushed to her feet. “I go where you go now.” Her eyes lit up. “And Sirius told me there’s an entire treasury full of magical gems and jewelry.”
He pointed a finger at her. “Trust me. You don’t want to touch those jewels. They once belonged to an evil queen.”
“But she’s dead, isn’t she?”
Tormund sighed, and flipped the blankets off his lap, sliding to the edge of the bed. “They’re probably cursed.”
Bryn gave him an impish grin as she backed toward the door. “Cursed jewels. An evil queen haunting an ancient dreki court. What could possibly go wrong?”
“I’
m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” he growled, reaching for his trousers. “You don’t dare the gods like that, Bryn.”
Bryn winked. “But it will be such an adventure. And this time, you’ll have me by your side, prepared to slay any dragons we come across.”
“What have I done? You’re as bad as Haakon,” he grumbled. “Leading me astray.”
Bryn laughed, slipping through the door.
And Tormund finally allowed himself a smile.
Because this time, he was the one who got the girl.
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BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE DREKI WORLD
Dear Reader,
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Thank you so much for reading Storm of Fury! Tormund has inspired so many emails demanding his story, so I hope it was worth the wait.
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As to a certain handsome prince—read on for a glimpse of Solveig’s revenge, when she sets out to make Marduk beg for forgiveness in Master of Storms.
Available now:
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Heart Of Fire
Storm of Desire
Clash of Storms
Storm of Fury
Master of Storms
Want to know more about future release dates?
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Make sure you sign up to my newsletter to be the first to know when my books are available.
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Here are some ways to stay updated:
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* Follow me on Bookbub
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*Or join my Facebook Fan Group for all the exclusive stuff!
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Click here to leave a review for Storm of Fury.
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I hope we meet again between the pages of another book!
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Cheers,
Bec McMaster
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P.S Not ready to leave the Legends of the Storm world behind? READ ON for an exciting preview of what’s to come when Solveig sets out to make a certain, reckless prince beg for mercy….
Coming January 2021
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EXCERPT
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The arrow came out of nowhere.
Marduk snatched it out of the air, alerted by its hiss. The point almost grazed his chest.
"Assassin!" Rurik snarled, shoving past him, but Marduk caught his older brother's forearm.
"Aye," he said, his gaze raking the shale covered hillside. "and if this arrow is any indication, I know exactly who it is."
“I’ll have the guards hunt them down.”
“No.”
A hint of scent wafted from the arrow.
It stole through Marduk like the kiss of the stormy wind off the Arctic. No delicate floral scent here.
But female in all the ways that mattered.
A scent both fierce and toe-curling; smoky in its allure.
A scent he'd breathed in once and could never escape. It had drifted within his lungs like a slow-acting poison, twining around his soul over the past month. It stole into his dreams at night and left him hard and aching. It woke him sweating and spent, her name on his lips.
Solveig.
"No," Marduk repeated softly, lowering the arrow as he watched a dark shape slip down the mountain like a wraith. "I shall hunt her down and deal with it myself.”
“Her?”
“My beloved mate.”
A shiver of delight speared through Marduk. He'd felt trapped this past month, bound by his familial vows to help his brother escape their mother’s deadly snare.
But watching Solveig flee from him sent a thrill of something he couldn’t quite describe through him.
"You're not going alone. She tried to kill us," Rurik snapped.
He tossed his brother the arrow. "I'm fairly certain you were safe."
"Marduk."
He paused on the edge of the ledge and looked back, a wolfish grin on her face. "Trust me, brother. It was definitely me she was aiming for."
And a part of him couldn't blame her.
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Princess. Tribute. Sacrifice. Is she the one prophesied to unite two warring Fae courts? Or the one bound to destroy them?
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In a realm ruled by magic, the ruthless Queen of Thorns is determined to destroy her nemesis, the cursed Prince of Evernight.
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With war brewing between the bitter enemies, the prince forces Queen Adaia to uphold an ancient treaty: she will send one of her daughters to his court as a political hostage for three months.
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The queen insists it’s the perfect opportunity for Princess Iskvien to end the war before it begins. But one look into Thiago’s smouldering eyes and Vi knows she’s no assassin.
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The more secrets she uncovers about the prince and his court, the more she begins to question her mother’s motives.
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Who is the true enemy? The dark prince who threatens her heart? Or the ruthless queen who will stop at nothing to destroy him?
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And when the curse threatens to shatter both courts, is she strong enough to break it?
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A fairytale twist inspired by the Hades and Persephone myth.
Glossary for Legends of the Storm
Álfar - Elves. Comprised of the svartálfar (black elves some commonly think are more dwarfish in nature, who work metals), Dökkálfar (dark elves that live within a hidden world within the earth) and the Ljósálfar (light elves who are fairer than the sun to look at, and live in Álfheimr). Some Icelanders say that to speak the word 'Álfar' is to draw their attention, and so it's safer to call them Huldufólk, which technically, they are not.
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Álfheimr - Land of the Light Elves.
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Cycle - Sixty years or so. Dreki consider time in cycles. A dreki is not considered an adult until they are two cycles old, and they often live for twenty-five cycles.
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Chaos-Bubble - a small side-world made purely of Chaos magic. Held within each volcano, this is the heart of the dreki court and guarded by magic. No human can enter a dreki court, unless they have a certain amount of magic within them, or have been rewarded with a dreki talisman, which grants them passage.
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Clan - A group of dreki who share familial ties, and live together. The term is commonly used throughout Europe and the North Americas. Each clan rules a certain territory, the edges of which are formed by treaty with other clans.
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Court - The official term for a clan or tribe of dreki. Also a place each clan refers to as home. Generally within a volcano.
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Dreki - Dreki were created when the Great Goddess tore her soul to pieces, and imbued each piece into flesh within the Fire of the volcano, Hekla. Dreki therefore, are creatures created of Fire, Earth and Air, who also have an affinity for Tiamat's Chaos magic. Commonly mistaken for their lesser brethren—dragons—they have the ability to change forms if they desire. Dreki prefer to live within volcanoes, where they can be close to the elements of Earth and Fire. There are many dreki clans in the world. Many clans rule the West Coast of Canada, and the Americas. Another hotspot is along the East coast of Russia, and the string of islands that leads down through Asia. There are also a few scattered courts along the Mediterranean and throughout the East Coast of Africa.
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Dragons - lesser children created by Tiamat, but borne from her flesh, not her soul. Monsters that hunger for dreki power, and emulate them by finding volcanoes to settle within. Lack the magic of the elements. It is considered an insult by the dreki to be called a dragon.
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Great Goddess - Tiamat, Goddess of Chaos and Creation.
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Huldufólk - "Hidden Folk". Those creatures from Scandinavian folklore.
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Mate - To choose the one who will bear your children, and whom you will live out the end of your days with.
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Plague of dreki - human term for a collective group of dreki. Insulting term to the dreki.
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Sarratum Zamani - "Queen of Lightning"
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Serpents - Created at the same time as dragons, sea serpents were hunted to extinction by ancient sailors.
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Tiamat - Ancient Sumerian goddess who was killed by the Storm-God, Marduk, when she was in serpent form. The North Wind took her soul North, where it hibernated within the volcano, Hekla, for many eons, drawing power from the Earth and the Fire within. When Hekla exploded, she used the eruption to tear her soul to pieces, giving birth to the first of the dreki race, in one last act of Creation.
